Shipping and display containers

ABSTRACT

A series of open topped display trays are filled with a plurality of packages of a product, the packages terminating in a common plane parallel to the bottoms of the trays. The trays are stacked in superimposed relation in a tubular container having top and bottom closures. A removable tear strip encircles the container near to and spaced from, the lower closure. The area of the container walls above the tear strip is creased so that this area may be folded inwardly and upwardly after the tear strip has been removed to provide a display stand upon which the display trays may be stacked.

United States Patent Mergens [4 1 May 23, 1972 [54] SHIPPING AND DISPLAYCONTAINERS [72] inventor: Gerald R. Mergens, St. Paul, Minn. g ifi zg[73] Assignee: Reynolds Guyer, Inc., Minneapolis, Minn. I 221 Filed:Nov. 21, 1969 [57] ABSTRACT A series of 0 en to ed dis la tra s arefilled with a luralit l. 7 782 P PP P Y Y P y [2]] App No 8 of packagesof a product, the packages terminating in a common plane parallel to thebottoms of the trays. The trays are 1 Cl "206/44 stacked in superimposedrelation in a tubular container having [5 I1 "865d 5/52 top and bottomclosures. A removable tear strip encircles the 0f ..206/44 R,44Bcontainer near to and Spaced from the lower closure. The 56 R t CM areaof the container walls above the tear strip is creased so I e cream Ithat this area may be folded inwardly and upwardly after the UNITEDSTATES PATENTS tear strip has been removed to provide a display standupon 2 926 777 3/1960 Maquire 206/44 which the display trays may bestacked. 3I425Z537 2/1969 Miller 10 Claims, 8 Drawing FiguresPATENTEDwza I972 sum 1 OF 2 Ge /mao R. MERGENS P'Arfimmmzs I972 ,55

SHEET 2 OF 2 INVENTOR GERALD R MERGE/V5 BY jur xnug AiroRNEY 1 SHIPPINGAND DISPLAY CONTAINERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION During recent yearsthe use of display trays for containing cans, bottles, or a series ofcartons has become increasingly popular. The display units may beremoved from an outer container, price marked without handling theindividual units to be displayed, and placed upon a shelf or displaystand from which they may be removed by the customer. "The customerremoves the individual bottles, cans or cartons from the tray, and whenemptied, the tray is removed and replaced.

It has also been found-that the use of display stands to displayproducts is normally more effective than placing the trays of productson shelves. When placed upon a display stand, where it stands out alone,the product usually sells in greater volume than when it is merelyplaced upon the shelf with other products. Accordingly, many companiesprovide display .stands upon which the product may be displayed.Displays of this type are normally quite expensive, and the cost may beprohibitive where the product being displayed is relatively inexpensive.Furthermore, if such displays are sent to supermarkets or other stores,they may be used or discarded depending upon the personnel of the store.As a result, many companies follow the practice of hiringrepresentatives to go from store to store and to set up the displays tomake sure that they will be used. This is also an expensive procedure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It has been found that if a series of displaytrays packed with the product are placed in a shipping container insuperimposed relation and if the shipping container is properly printedand constructed, the shipping container may be used as a display stand,after the contents have been removed. Preferably the shipping containeris provided with a tear stripwhich encircles the walls of the shippingcontainer. By removing this tear strip, the contents may be removed. Byproperly locating the tear strip, a display stand of proper height maybe provided for supporting the superimposed trays.

A feature of the present invention resides in the provision of thecontainer designed to contain a stack of superimposed product containingtrays, to provide a tear strip encircling the walls ofthe container nearone end thereof, and in creasing the walls of the container adjoiningthe tear strip so that the walls may be folded in a manner to provide arounded or folded edge upon which the container may rest when used as adisplaystand. Preferably, a fold line extends across all of the walls inspaced parallel relation to the tear strip. Diagonal fold lines extendfrom the juncture of this transverse fold line with each of the lines offold defining the container. walls. These diagonal folds permit theportions of the wall adjoining the tear strip to be folded inwardly andupwardly, presenting a folded edge for supporting the container whenused as a stand.

The advantage of this construction is multi-fold. In the first place,the removal of the tear strip usually leaves somewhat of a ragged edgeon the container along the edge of the removed strip which would besomewhat unsightly if the container were to rest upon this edge.Secondly, the floor on which the stand may rest is sometimes wet duringrainy or snowy weather, or when the floor is cleaned. The folded edgeswill stand up much better under wet conditions than a single cut edgeinto which the moisture can readily wick.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision ofsimple display trays which may be quickly and easily set up, and whichmay, if desired, be unfolded and stored for reuse. Each tray includes abottom panel having tapered side walls hingedly secured thereto alongopposite edges thereof. The side walls are provided with comer flapswhich fold inwardly into opposed relation. The rear wall of the tray isfolded outwardly of the comer flaps, and includes a rear wall liningpanel hinged to its upper edge which may be folded down inwardly of thecorner flaps and locked in position to the base panel. Handles areprovided on the side walls by forming elongated slots therein, whichtilt the contents toward the rear of the tray when lifted due to theangle of the hand holes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF TI-IEDRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of theclosed container as it is shipped and stored.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view-of the stacked container contents as theyare removed fromthe container.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the container contents stacked upon aportion of the container serving as a display 7 stand.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the end of theopen container showing themanner in which the lower ends of the container panels are folded toform a rounded lower edge.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a tray being lifted, showing the mannerin which the tray nonnally tilts rearwardly when lifted by thehand holesto incline the tray contents against the rear of the tray.

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the outercontainer is formed.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of one of the display trays with thecontents removed.

FIG. 8 is a diagrammatic view of the blank from which the display trayis formed.

DESCRIPTION OF TI-IE'PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS panel 10, an end wall panel11, a second side wall panel 12, v .and a second end wall panell3,'connected along parallel lines of fold 14, 15, and 16. A glue orstitch flap 17 is hingedly connected to an end wall of the series, suchas a wall 10, along the 1 fold line 19 which is parallel to thepreviously described lines of fold.

The transverse fold lines 20 defines what may be termed the upper edgesof the various panels and connects the panels 10, 11, 12, and 13 toupper closure flaps 21, 22, 23, and 24 respectively. A similartransverse fold line 25 defines the lower edges of the panels 10, l1,l2, and 13 and connects these panels to closure flaps 26, 27, 29, and 30respectively.

A third transverse fold line 31 extends across the wall panels parallelto and spaced from the fold line 25. The distance between the fold line31 and the upper fold line 20 will define the height of the displaystand to be formed. Intermediate the fold lines 25 and 31, a tear stripis fonned, the tear strip 32 being defined by a pair of spaced apartparallel weakened lines of separation 33 and 34. Cut lines 35 connectthe ends of the weakened lines 33 and 34 to the end edge 36 of the blankto facilitate grasping the end of the tear strip 32 and pulling itoutwardly to completely detach the main portion of the container A,which is indicated in general by the numeral 37, and a cap portion,which is indicated in general by the numeral 39.

Each panel is provided with a pair of diagonally extending fold lines orperforated lines'which extend from the lower cornets of the wall panelsadjoining the-fold line 31 toward the upper weakened line of separation33 defining the upper edge of the tear strip 32. Diagonal fold lines 40extend from the juncture of the fold line 31 and the fold lines 14 and19 to the weakened line 33. Similar fold lines 41 extend in downwardlyconverging relation from the juncture of the fold lines 14 and 15 to theweakened line'33. Similar downwardly converging fold lines 42 and 43 areprovided from the juncture of the fold line 31 with the fold lines 15and 16 to the weakened line, and with the fold line 16 and the edge 36of the panel 13, respectively.

The product supporting trays are best illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8 ofthe dr'awings. The trays 8 each include a rectangular bottom panel 44which is hingedly connected along parallel fold lines 45 to side walls46 which are generally trapezoidal in outline so that the upper edges ofeach side wall tapers upwardly and rearwardly. Comer flaps 47 arehingedly connected to the rear or longer of the parallel edges of theside walls 46 along aligned fold lines 49. The comer flaps 47 may beconsidered to be connected to the rear edges of the side walls 46. Arear wall 50 is hingedly connected to the bottom 44 along a fold line 51which is at right angles to the fold lines 45. A rear wall linear panel52 is connected to the upper edge of the rear wall 50 along a doublefold line 53. The end edge of the liner panel 52 is provided with a pairof spaced short projecting tongues 54 which are designed to extend intoslots 55 extending along the fold line 51 in the base panel 44.

The side walls 46 are provided with a hand hole 56 therein designed toaccommodate the fingers to simplify the lifting of the tray. The sidewalls 46 may be bulged outwardly to some extent by the fingers when thetray is being carried.

In erecting the tray B, the side walls 46 are hinged upwardly into rightangular relation to the base panel 44, and the comer flaps 47 are foldedinwardly into coplanar relationship, extending along the fold line 51.The rear wall panel 50 is then folded upwardly, outwardly of the cornerflaps 47, and the rear wall liner panel 52 is folded over the upperedges of the comer flaps 47 and downwardly to engage the short lockingtongues 54in the slots 55. Obviously, the panels 50 and 52 are ofsubstantially equal vertical length.

The erected trays are filled with the product and then appear asindicated in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. The filled trays are stackedone upon another. An outer container A is slipped over the stack oftrays B, and the ends of the tubular container are closed by firstfolding the end wall closure flaps 22, 24, 27, and 30 into a commonplane. The side wall closure flaps 21, 23 are folded to lie outwardly ofthe first folded flaps 22, 24 and are secured thereto by adhesive, tape,or other suitable means. The side wall closure flaps 26, 29 are alsofolded to underlie the previously folded flaps 27, 30 and are adhered orotherwise secured in face contact therewith to form the closed containerillustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings.

The method of opening the container is illustrated in FIG. 1 of thedrawings. The tear strip 32 is removed while the trays are in an uprightposition in which the lowermost tray will project from the cap portion39 to be later removed therefrom. The body portion 37 of the container Ais removed by sliding this member upwardly in the manner illustrated inFIG. 2 of the drawings until it is free of the stack of trays B.

The body portion 37 is then converted into a display stand by foldinginwardly the portions of the container walls between the fold lines 31and the weakened line of separation 33. This is accomplished by forcingthe triangular areas on either side of the fold lines 14, 15, 16, and 19inwardly and downwardly as indicated generally in FIG. 4, and foldingthe trapezoidal panels 59 therebetween inwardly and downwardly. Thisoperation results in the provision of a floor stand having an open lowerend which may be partially closed by the trapezoidal areas 59 betweenthe converging fold lines 40, 41, 42, and 43 which incline upwardly andinwardly. This arrangement tends to hold the lower end of the standsquared up, and presents a folded lower edge to the floor or othersupporting surface. This edge is not only neat in appearance but willnot absorb liquid in the same manner as the edge formed by the weakenedline 33.

The container body portion 37 which forms the floor stand is then placedin the desired position withthe closed end uppermost, and the trays Bare stacked upon the stand as is shown in FIG. 4 of the drawings.

The present construction has the advantage of providing a floor standwhich costs virtually no more than the shipping case which wouldnormally be used for shipping and storing the contents. The outercontainer may be printed or decorated to provide an attractive support,and to advertise the product, and serves as an advertisement duringshipment of the goods as well as when a portion of the container is inuse as a stand.

It will be noted that the hand holes 56 are elongated in a directionparallel to the inclined edges 57 of the trapezoidal side walls 46. As aresult, as each tray B, with its contents, is

lifted, the inclined edges 57 are on a horizontal plane, and the bottompanel 44 inclines downwardly and rearwardly toward the rear panel 50 andrear liner panel 52. The packages of product C resting upon the bottompanel are urged toward the rear of the tray, and are prevented fromfalling from, the open front of the tray. The trays may thus berestacked upon the display stand 37 without dropping the contents orproduct C.'

I claim:

1. A shipping and display container in combination with a series ofproduct units of substantially similar dimensions comprising:

a series of similar display trays including a bottom panel, a rear wallpanel and side wall panels, said side and rear wall panels extendingupwardly from said bottom panel and secured together, to provide an opentopped tray,

product filling said trays and extending at least to the height of theside and rear walls of said tray and terminating on planes parallel tothe planes of said bottom panels,

a tubular rectangular container including four hingedly connected wallpanels of proper dimensions to snugly accommodate a plurality ofsuperimposed trays of product, and

a removable tear stn'p extending about the walls of said tubularrectangular container near one end thereof and operable, when removed todivide the container into a display stand and a separate end cap,

said container having end closures which form the end of the cap anddisplay stand when said tear strip is removed,

said display stand being adapted to support said displays insuperimposed relation resting upon one of said end closures when removedfrom said container.

2. The structure of claim 1 and in which said display stand containerportion of said container is creased along a line parallel to said tearstrip and spaced therefrom, the portion of said display stand betweensaid crease line and said tear strip being foldable inwardly andupwardly to provide a folded edge upon which said display stand mayrest.

3. The structure of claim 2 and in which the area of said display standbetween said crease line and said tear strip includes diagonallyextending crease line with the sides of said wall panels to said tearstrip.

4. A container comprising:

a series of foldably connected rectangular wall panels hingedlyconnected in similar relation,

end closure flaps hinged to the ends of said wall panels and folded intosuperimposed relation to provide end closures,

a removable tear strip extending across said wall panels parallel to,and spaced from, the fold" lines connecting said wall panels to saidclosure flaps, said tear strip being closer to one end of said panelsthan to the other, said tear strip, when removed, dividing saidcontainer into a larger and a smaller open ended container portions,

a crease line extending across the wall panel portions of said largercontainer portion in spaced parallel relation to said tear strip,

each said last named panel portions including a pair of diagonal foldlines converging from the juncture of said crease line with the sides ofsaid wall panels to said tear strip,

said diagonal fold lines dividing the area of each wall panel betweensaid crease line into a trapezoidal center portion and a pair of similartriangular portions, whereby when said tear strip is removed, the saidareas of said wall panels may be folded inwardly to position saidtrapezoidal center portions at an acute angle to the wall panels towhich they are hinged.

5. The structure of claim 4 and in which said tear strip is defined bytwo parallel side-by-side weakened lines of separation.

6. The structure of claim 1 and in which each said display tray includesa pair of corner flaps hinged to the rear edges of said side wall panelsand are folded inwardly of said rear wall panel and including a rearwall liner panel foldably connected panels include hand holes.

9. The structure of claim 1 and in which said side walls are generallytrapezoidal in shape, the upper edges of the side walls incline upwardlyand rearwardly from the front to the rear wall panels thereof.

10. The structure of claim 9 and in which the hand holes are elongatedin a direction parallel to the upper edges of said side 8. The structureof claim 1 and in which said side wall 10 walls.

1. A shipping and display container in combination with a series ofproduct units of substantially similar dimensions comprising: a seriesof similar display trays including a bottom panel, a rear wall panel andside wall panels, said side and rear wall panels extending upwardly fromsaid bottom panel and secured together, to provide an open topped tray,product filling said trays and extending at least to the height of theside and rear walls of said tray and terminating on planes parallel tothe planes of said bottom panels, a tubular rectangular containerincluding four hingedly connected wall panels of proper dimensions tosnugly accommodate a plurality of superimposed trays of product, and aremovable tear strip extending about the walls of said tubularrectangular container near one end thereof and operable, when removed todivide the container into a display stand and a separate end cap, saidcontainer having end closures which form the end of the cap and displaystand when said tear strip is removed, said display stand being adaptedto support said displays in superimposed relation resting upon one ofsaid end closures when removed from said container.
 2. The structure ofclaim 1 and in which said display stand container portion of saidcontainer is creased along a line parallel to said tear strip and spacedtherefrom, the portion of said display stand between said crease lineand said tear strip being foldable inwardly and upwardly to provide afolded edge upon which said display stand may rest.
 3. The structure ofclaim 2 and in which the area of said display stand between said creaseline and said tear strip includes diagonally extending crease line withthe sides of said wall panels to said tear strip.
 4. A containercomprising: a series of foldably connected rectangular wAll panelshingedly connected in similar relation, end closure flaps hinged to theends of said wall panels and folded into superimposed relation toprovide end closures, a removable tear strip extending across said wallpanels parallel to, and spaced from, the ''''fold'''' lines connectingsaid wall panels to said closure flaps, said tear strip being closer toone end of said panels than to the other, said tear strip, when removed,dividing said container into a larger and a smaller open ended containerportions, a crease line extending across the wall panel portions of saidlarger container portion in spaced parallel relation to said tear strip,each said last named panel portions including a pair of diagonal foldlines converging from the juncture of said crease line with the sides ofsaid wall panels to said tear strip, said diagonal fold lines dividingthe area of each wall panel between said crease line into a trapezoidalcenter portion and a pair of similar triangular portions, whereby whensaid tear strip is removed, the said areas of said wall panels may befolded inwardly to position said trapezoidal center portions at an acuteangle to the wall panels to which they are hinged.
 5. The structure ofclaim 4 and in which said tear strip is defined by two parallelside-by-side weakened lines of separation.
 6. The structure of claim 1and in which each said display tray includes a pair of corner flapshinged to the rear edges of said side wall panels and are foldedinwardly of said rear wall panel and including a rear wall liner panelfoldably connected to the upper edge of said rear wall panel and foldedforwardly of said corner flaps.
 7. The structure of claim 6 and in whichsaid bottom panel includes a slot adjoining its line of connection withsaid rear wall, and in which said rear wall liner panel includes alocking tongue engaged in said slot to provide means holding said sideand rear wall panels extending upwardly from said bottom panel.
 8. Thestructure of claim 1 and in which said side wall panels include handholes.
 9. The structure of claim 1 and in which said side walls aregenerally trapezoidal in shape, the upper edges of the side wallsincline upwardly and rearwardly from the front to the rear wall panelsthereof.
 10. The structure of claim 9 and in which the hand holes areelongated in a direction parallel to the upper edges of said side walls.